JFK awards for ousted Iowa justices, U.S. diplomat

Associated Press

May 6, 2012

Photo: Stephan Savoia

FILE - In this May 23, 2011 file photo, Caroline Kennedy addresses the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library & Museum in Boston. She is scheduled to present this year's awards during the annual ceremony on Monday, May 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

FILE - In this May 23, 2011 file photo, Caroline Kennedy addresses...

BOSTON - President John F. Kennedy's only surviving child is celebrating what would have been his 95th birthday this month by honoring three Iowa judges who were ousted after the court unanimously decided to legalize same-sex marriages.

Caroline Kennedy will also recognize the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, who risked his life to support opponents of President Basher Assad's regime.

Kennedy heads the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, which promotes the late president's memory and legacy. She is set to present the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Monday to former Iowa Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and justices David Baker and Michael Streit, all of whom were pushed off the bench in a 2010 retention vote that capped a contentious campaign.

The three judges will receive a sterling silver ship's lantern symbolizing a beacon of hope. The award, which was designed by Kennedy's husband, Edwin Schlossberg, and crafted by Tiffany & Co., resembles one belonging to the U.S. Navy's oldest commissioned warship, the USS Constitution, known as "Old Ironsides."

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Ternus, Baker and Streit were among seven justices who unanimously decided in 2009 that an Iowa law restricting marriage to a man and a woman violated the state's constitution. Conservative groups and other gay marriage foes spent about $1 million on a political campaign to oust the judges, who chose not to raise money or campaign.